SMC 2302 Civic Engagement and Social Action Sp 2013

Service Showcase

2013-05-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

It is hard to encompass exactly what I want to say about the Showcasing Service event we participated in. If I had just one word to collect my feelings about the entire project in whole, would be "Inspiring." Working on the project was a great experience working with others and collaborating in order to have the best project we could. I am a firm believer in the saying "two heads are better than one," but having five great minds working together gave us the chance to make an inspiring exhibit.

I was able to view some of the other exhibits at the living museum, and I must say I was moved by each one. The personal stories in the equal marriage group, the acting out of a fight in the domestic violence group, the cardboard box decorations in the homelessness group, and the hard facts in the drop out group moved me to be inspired to help out more in my community. I think every group there inspired others and had their own unique way of reaching out to the public.

In all, I had the experience of a lifetime being able to research, interview, and get to know the world of disabilities more than I already did. I feel I am saying this over and over, but that world is my world and in turn, my passion. I was lucky enough to share my world with my group, the class and the visitors to the Showcasing Service event. I have never enjoyed a project more in my life, and I doubt I ever will. This has truly been a life lesson of the importance of service, and it is a lesson I thank you for teaching me. Thank you Professor Burke.

Final Blog/Museum Reflection

2013-05-02T23:35:00.002-07:00

With our Living Museum Project complete and the semester coming to a close, I would like to reflect on the experience. Overall, I enjoyed working on this. I had never been part of something that was so keen on spreading social awareness. One of my favorite parts of the process, in which I learned the most, was our service event. By “learned the most,” I don’t mean research or statistics, but actual awareness for individuals with disabilities. Seeing the fashion show with all the disabled kids really made me reflect on how they live their lives, and how different they live those lives as opposed to ours. In reality, however, we are all the same. They still live on the same Earth we do, they still experience emotions such as love and sadness, and they still must go through life just as we do. The fact is, they must simply go through life with different variations than us. Where we may walk, they may use a wheel chair; where we may talk, they may have to use sign language. They do the same things as us but in different ways. In reality these people are not disabled; their normal is just different from our normal, but it is normal regardless. The whole project in itself not only made me appreciate their lives, but my life as well. Our exhibit day was also extremely enjoyable for me. I loved seeing people go through the challenges we set up for them, and especially loved their reactions. Hearing people say “wow this really is tough,” or “I have to hand it to disabled people, they do a lot,” were the exact things that I wanted to hear. Everything came together better than we had all expected. I felt that all of us were happy with the results of our hard work. As far as my group goes, I enjoyed working with all of them. We were all able to work together and equally contribute to the project.

Project Reflection

2013-05-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

I’ve always been intrigued in the people on the corner holding that cardboard sign asking for any form of money to survive. I never asked myself how they got there or what could drive a human to humiliate himself for just enough to get by. That is one of the major factors that lead me in accepting the theme of homelessness as our group project theme. On the course of this final project I have learned through serving and that I could not get from anywhere else.

The first requirement of the project was to serve 6 hours in any place that was related to your topic. I chose St. Vincent de Paul’s kitchen at Haven for Hope. At first glimpse it’s not the place you’d see yourself in but the cause they serve is great and I took advantage of the opportunity to meeting new people and hearing their stories. Of course, I spoke to people while doing duties. Some of the duties were preparing the meals for lunch and stocking incoming donations of food items in the fridge or stock room.

I was humbled to see all the food that was donated. I had never seen that much food but to be honest the amount of food available tends to not be enough for the number of people coming to be fed. It made me realize that a swipe to the café (even though the food isn’t all that great) is all I need to get an endless amount of food. I felt guilty and thought to myself, well if we all have enough food here at the café why can’t the homeless be fed. Then I thought, well I wouldn’t mind having a day where we feed the homeless so maybe one day we can have a haven for hope/ St. Mary’s university collaboration.

In addition, there was one individual that stuck out to me. His name was Rufus. He’s an African American male who was brought into the haven for hope a couple years in order to get his life back together like most homeless people. The haven for hope program helps homeless people get back on their feet by allowing them to participate in sessions that focus on providing help for their problems. I always believed people who were homeless either decided to become homeless or fell into poverty from a job loss. The reality is that people fall into homelessness because of mental illness, divorce, depression and a series of reasons.

In this society I have learned that when we fall into hard times the first people we look for help from is our own family. However, what happens when you don’t have that. It makes it that much harder to roll with the punches and most of the time we get knocked down to this deep hole. I learned that many of the problems are could easily be solved if we all just came together and incorporated resources.

Along the way in life I have landed in positions that have made me reflect deeply within about who I am, who I want to become, and how to become it. This class has showed me the importance of four skills that I will take with me for the rest of my life. They are experience, make meaning, reflect, and share. These four key components allowed me to realize that who I am is not who I want to continue to be.

Over this course taken on the theme of homelessness truly opened my eyes and made me reflect on my own personal life and where I stand both economically and mentally. I have heard the saying that things happen for a reason and although this is somewhat true, things also happen because you wanted them to happen. Each decision you make has a reward or a consequence that is why when making a decision we should calculate all the variables to the decision.

I’ve grown as a person; I’ve taken my faith and have faced a problem in this class. This is merely a small reflection of the impact made within the awakening and me I received that we are called to be servers of the people and not to be served.

Project Reflection

2013-05-02T21:02:00.001-07:00

http://www.havenforhope.org/new/

What I’ve learned in this course is that humanity can go a long way. One person acting alone can’t do much but many acting together can change the world.

This semester we took on a project as a group which firstly started as something we had to do but ended up being something we all really enjoyed. Of course, in the beginning it was hard for any of us to commit to doing anything but as we learned more about what being civically engaged really meant the easier it became to get volunteers. In the end we all thought it would be good for us to bring awareness to the problem of homelessness.

This project first took us to Haven for Hope which is a nonprofit agency that has eighty five individual entities located within itself. The sole purpose of all of these agencies is to help people try to reenter mainstream society. Yes, there are other agencies that claim and want to do the same thing but how many of them do this entirely for free. Not one cent is charged to any of the people looking for help at Haven for Hope. This is where we definitely noticed how they separated themselves from all the other agencies. Another aspect that is unique to them is that many of the staff are still homeless and live on sight. Their approach is to help from within and at the same time make the new people coming in feel more at ease since they are dealing with other homeless persons like themselves. As a group we put a lot of time here doing various jobs in order to try and make a difference. In the end I think it opened our eyes to the fact that if just four can make a difference in people’s lives as we did then what about if we had many or thousands.

Haven for Hope is the agency that really helped us put our project together. All the staff was more than willing to accommodate us in any way we needed. They gave us flyers and pamphlets and gave us phone numbers of other agencies to contact that could do the same. Julian, a coordinator at Haven told us that they needed more people like us to help and that we really made a difference.

What I personally took away from this project is a sense that I really helped some people with the hours I volunteered. It made me look differently at homeless people and the less fortunate and made me realize that I too could become homeless rather easily with the right circumstances. I feel civic engagement now after the semester is over that it is not a term to be defined but rather an ACTION to do. This has motivated me to do more in my community and to volunteer more. The great feeling I had after as well as knowing I made a difference in someone’s life is priceless. I encourage everybody to get out more and make a change. Even with one person, change is possible especially if your'e a RATTLER!.

High school dropouts, is the issue truly an epidemic?

2013-05-02T20:52:00.002-07:00

The high school dropout issue is more than just an issue; it is an epidemic of mass proportions. Our museum project focused on the effects that dropping out of high school has not only on the individual but also on the community. There is an article published by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change - http://www.pew-partnership.org/pdf/dropout_overview.pdf - that pretty much sums up the issue at hand. Most of the facts that we used for our project and most of the additional points we researched originated from this article.

The most astonishing thing for me throughout this whole process was the sheer numbers of dropouts every day and why some of them leave. In San Antonio alone a student drops out of school every 4 minutes. It is even worse for the nation; one student every 25 seconds. The nation loses about 7,000 students a day from grades 9th thru 12th. In total, as a nation, over 1 million children dropout of school every year. Think about that….. 1 million plus!!!

It is hard for me to understand how we could have such a problem and never hear about it. I know the “No Child Left Behind Act” was put in place to prevent such horrible numbers, but another report I reviewed showed that the dropout rates are worse then they were in the 90s. How as a nation could we let this happen?

In completing my service hours I met students who had originally dropped out of school but were now attempting to finish through programs at an organization called SA Youth. SA Youth has a dropout prevention program for children in grades below 9th but also has high school diploma and GED programs for students between the ages of 16 and 25. I also met students that had completed the program and were now giving back to the organization by volunteering their time. It was very rewarding.

Our museum piece was my favorite part of this whole process. The reason I say that is because I know for a fact that we touched the hearts and minds of many. We had to reprint our brochure 2 additional times, giving out a total somewhere over 120. Even if we truly reached just one person that would be willing to volunteer their time or money to one of the organizations we listed, then we accomplished our mission. Please take the time to read the attached article. It will give you a greater understanding of our issue and why we as a community need to take action.

Someone drops out, you lose out

2013-05-02T20:13:00.001-07:00

In our Living Museum piece we focused on high school drop outs. Starting out I did not think this issue was as important as other issues such as feeding the hungry. What I did realize from this project is education is the root of the later major issues faced in society. For example, 44 million adults in the U.S. cannot read a child's book. Reading to your child helps develop their basic language skills and when these skills are not developed by the age of 5, then that child is 4 times more likely to drop out. A study found that nearly two-thirds of inmates are dropouts. I am not saying that all drop outs will end up in jail or that if you do not read to your child they will dropout, but there is an obvious correlation between the two.

Another fact I found interesting and impacting is the cost that dropouts take on the general public. Dropouts compromise nearly half of the heads of households on welfare, and each year's new class of dropouts will cost taxpayers more than $200 billion over the course of their lifetimes in lost earnings and tax revenues, not to mention the cost of the social services that require.

There are so many facts and shocking statistics we found as a group regarding high school dropouts. The impact they have on our society is everywhere especially in taxes. I hope that we made our audience aware of the issue and inspired them to go out and volunteer with the organizations that assist with dropouts.

Homosexual Showcase

2013-05-02T19:31:00.002-07:00

For many individuals today, the world is a cruel place if your sexual preference is different from everyone else’s. Our topic for the showcase on April 24^th was discrimination against Homosexuals. Our main goal was to show the audience some situations on how homosexuals were being discriminated in today’s society. We did this by acting out different scenes, such as coming out to their parents, being judged in a store or being looked out differently by friends, that the audience chose themselves. This also got the audience more involved and willing to participate more, that way our group could get our message out more and more clearly. We also got some visual attributes that had some quotes from interviews that we had gotten, as well as pictures of the Equality sign and the “gay” flag. We also had some pictures of homosexual celebrities that everyone seemed to know of and made a difference on how we view their sexual preference in the first place. To finish it off, we had a little display of a marriage gown and tuxedos that were paired up in different ways, for example a pair of tuxedos and and a pair of two marriage gowns, and one pair of a tuxedo and a marriage gown. These would represent another symbol of discrimination because marriage between two people of the same sex is banned in most states. The homosexual community has been in need of support from their own society for quite some time now. With more and more Homosexual relationships and preferences showing up, the world has gotten a little more used to the fact each time.

Discrimination against Homosexuals

2013-05-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

Within the past few months I'm sure most if not all of you have heard or seen of the gay rights parades going on throughout the nation. Well our group's Living Museum piece had to do with discrimination against homosexuality. It is a pretty major topic considering that homosexuals are often mistreated or judged throughout their lives. Even the people who were once the closest to them can overreact and mistreat them after finding out a person is gay. I really learned a lot during the process of the project but I learned even more from our guests the day of the showcase. In between our skits our guests were able to enlighten me a bit more on how they have been victimized and why it tends to happen. They expressed to me that mothers and fathers tend to have different reasons as to why they don't accept the homosexuality of their children. Fathers tend to not accept that their son is homosexual because they want their son to be like them where as mothers usually aren't very accepting due to their religious beliefs. One of our guests, whom was homosexual, stated that most people who are not accepting of gay rights and gay marriage is because they feel that you can choose whether or not to be homosexual. Although you may be able to choose who you sleep with or who you mess around with, nobody can choose who they are naturally attracted to which is why being gay is not a choice but a lifestyle.

High School dropout SHOCK!

2013-05-02T17:29:00.001-07:00

San Antonio ranks seventh in population but 60th in literacy. Every 4 minutes a student drops out of school. I didn’t know this and it really affected me when I realized that I am in college and although I am not from San Antonio, I am seen as one of not that many students who get to go to college. I recently learned that the United States was ranked 25 in Science and 29 in Math among the 30 developed countries. It is very unfortunate to see that we are almost at the very bottom having one of the ‘strongest’ government systems in the world. According to the article City’s future hinges on literacy, San Antonio has the second-highest illiteracy rate among major Texas cities, and the high school dropout rate is worse than any other major U.S. city.

The Living Museum was an opportunity for me to know more about high school drop outs and what the effects of this are. Our exhibit was on high school drop outs and we tried to portray the causes and effects of dropping out of high school. We decided to show others the short and long term effects of high school drop outs that are and will affect not only the high school dropout but the whole nation. I come from parents who did not even get to go to high school so I know how much they struggled and still struggle to be able to sustain themselves and their homes. I am also Hispanic and unfortunately Hispanics are at the very top when it comes to high school dropouts among with African Americans. As I spent the hours of Wednesday 24^th talking to people about high school dropouts and how we all are affected I started to feel accomplished. Not because I was happy to know the unfortunate facts about high school dropouts but because more and more people were starting to realize how big of an issue this was and how it was actually affecting everyone not only the high school dropout. I cannot stop thanking Professor Burke for allowing us to live this, for introducing us to the real world with all these issues we all hear of at a point but not pay attention to.

I realized that in order for me to be better and have better opportunities I have to stay in school, do well in school and work, and try to find opportunities that will help me improve my skills and my standard of living. However, I also need to help others and try to do things for others because at the end, it will affect me too. If we all start thinking like that then I am sure our society would be better and we wouldn’t have all this debt, all these people unemployed, people homeless, children suffering, and many more.

Domestic Violence Living Museum Reflection

2013-05-02T16:30:00.003-07:00

My group and I had a very good experience with regards to the final project that consisted on the Living Museum of what our service was during the semester. We Volunteered with a nonprofit organization called Girls on the Run which consists in a program that helps young girls run and motivate them in becoming stronger women and women of character. This organization is spread all over the Unites States and there is a lot of group around the public school locally in San Antonio. Volunteering with group of girls that come from low income and come from backgrounds that we dont know is sad but at the same time an enriching experience. I learned a lot and these girls taught me a lot back. They opened my eyes in realizing that even though they have many problems at home they try to overcome them and become stronger women. It was a life changing experience working with Girls on the Run. I also learned a lot about the consequences and how women are abused and even murdered daily because of physical violence their partner does. It is sad to know about the statistics and to know how many women are suffering and are not strong or brave enough to stand out and say something about it. What I liked about Girls on the Run was that this program helps build up girls filled with confidence and strong women that would not allow this kind of situations to happen so in a sense they are preventing domestic violence towards women. From now on whenever I have some free time or even if I dont have free time Ill make the time to volunteer with Girls on the Run because it really is a life changing experience.

Kid with gun shoot his sister

2013-05-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/01/us/kentucky-accidential-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

"A Kentucky mother stepped outside of her home just for a few minutes, but it was long enough for her 5-year-old son to accidentally shoot his 2-year-old sister with the .22-caliber rifle he got for his birthday, should we leave guns around by kids where they play unsupervised? No. But you can secure guns in such a way that you protect your children from thugs and also protect them the guns you choose to use in order to do so.

Education also goes a long way both for the parent and the child. In the eighties I know how they would be talking about the dangers of lead chips and to stop your children from chewing on walls. Lead poisoning has gone down. Firearms accidents are at the lowest levels they've ever been and are still declining, but incidents like this show there is still work to be done on educating parents about childproofing their homes. This goes for all manner of childproofing, from the liquor cabinet to the gun to the kitchen knives and oven.

Educating your children is important too. If you are afraid of guns, you are going to make your children afraid and curious about the things you are araid of. If you approach it as a tool that is potentially very dangerous, but one that can be controlled and managed by conscientious care, you will be far more successful in helping your child avoid a gun accident should they ever find one that you did not manage to avoid (friend's backpack, someone else's home, lying on a street corner...). By showing them the damage a gun can do, teaching them to find a parent, and desensitizing the curiousity to where it is not "forbidden fruit", you can reduce the chances that they will try and touch or play with a gun they find someday.

My personal belief is that every high school student should be taught to safely unload any weapon that is commonly available. You don't need to learn to shoot, or have any tactical skills, but anyone can come across a gun in their lives. It's unlikely, but it happens. If you are with your child and find a gun lying on the street corner, you should be able to safely unload it. What else will you do? Stand near it and call the police, leaving your child near it also? Walk away from it so a child or criminal will come across it? No. The safest and best thing is to render that gun inoperable (or confirm that it is) in a way that doesn't place you or anyone else in danger, then call the police. This is just basic self-preservation skills in my humble opinion.

FDA approves morning-after pill without prescription for girls 15 and older

2013-05-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/30/health/morning-after-pill/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it approved the availability of the Plan B One-Step emergency contraception pill without a prescription for women 15 and older."

So a 15 year old is not mature enough to get a drivers license, buy a gun, vote, buy cigarettes, or alcohol but is mature enough to make birth control choices without a doctor or a parents consent? I dont think these is a correct decision that the government is doing because is destroying society. Girls now are going to be more free to have relationship with men since a young age and there is where they get many deceases they encounter in the future. Been in Law Enforcement for 20 years, its illegal to have sex at that age. And the parents can be charged with numerous felonies for allowing it or not reporting it. Unfortunately each time the pill is needed, that was unprotected intercourse and a risk for getting an STD. How many of these teens will follow up with a chlamydia check. Untreated it can be present for years and lead to infertility when these kids finally are ready for families. The pill can also fail. How many will assume it worked and it lead to a complication later? How many know their medical histories to know if they have contraindications? And given the price, for the teens this is targeted towards, how many will really buy it? One can buy 1 month of birth control pills for less, so why are a few pills much more expensive? This really sounds like a win for the pharmaceutical industry taking advantage of kids in distress. We really need to think about all this things and if they are affecting us or helping us in a way!

Alaskan Man Fights Off Bear Walks Away with Minor Injures

2013-05-01T12:43:00.002-07:00

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/alaska-man-fights-off-bear-walks-away-minor-100049041.html

In our class we have spoken about and pondered many social issues that impact many people. Many of the issues have been local issues or national issues all of with impact us. Some of us including myself have spoken about foreign issues like in the Middle East; so I decided to post this article, I know it may not affect us directly but who does not like a good bear story. As it applies to social issues, it definitely a social issue in Alaska. I could not imagine the possibility of being eating by a bear every time I step outside. There is something however adventurous about it, living along the direct primal dangers of man versus beast. That monster, that actually does exist, that longs to eat you and your family alive. This story is not just a social issue for people in Alaska; it is a story that touches base on the human fantasy and imagination in regards to danger and adventure.

For many years I have had a recurring lucid dream (a lucid dream is one in which you are aware you are dreaming and can control to some extent what happens in the dream) where I am being attacked and eaten by a large grizzle bear. In some cases he can talk and has a high level of intellect. In other words, he is a smart bear and he wants to eat me. Ever since, I’ve started to have these dreams I’ve fascinated with bear attach stories, it inspires me to hear one where the man wins. Although, I’m pretty sure there is something cool about being eating alive by a bear.

Hungry countries need money NOT food

2013-04-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

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This months blog is brought to you courtesy of a tweet posted by @NYUReynolds and is linked to a very interesting article http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/fixes/

This article’s title is “When Food Isn’t the Answer to Hunger”, which sparked my interest immediately. I thought to myself, “How could food not be the answer” so I impatiently read the article. I was surprise to realize that the article had several interesting and valid point. It is specific to the aid that the Unites States provides to countries in need to food and other items in the wake of a natural disaster or tragedy.

The first example the article covered was the tsunami that hit in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. Te wave devastated the coastline and killed a quarter of a million people. But the destruction only went so far. Just a few miles inland the country was fine and ready to support its people. Yes they needed aid but what kind of aid did they really need. We often think of food and water as the first things we should provide in the wake of a disaster such as this one but in reality what they needed was money. When the U.S. shipped in rice and gave it to the residents for free they disrupted the local market and began to cripple the countries economy. Because they residents were getting the rice for free they did not have any need to buy it from the local market causing local farmers to suffer.

In light of this discovery, several aid organizations working locally tried a different approach. They purchased food locally and distributed it to the people who normally have received donations flown in from another country. They also paid the residents to clear the debris and provided grants to families housing other residents that were displaced by the destruction. In this instance the new approached worked well and boasted the community as a whole creating more jobs. The cash to buy food local ended up cheaper in the long run compared to the cost of shipping the food in and it was available faster to the ones in need.

There are several countries where food is not available for purchase and food aid is required but there are far more locations where food is available but people cannot afford to buy it. If we were to give money instead of food we could potentially boast the local markets creating additional job faster and more efficiently than shipping in aid. There are even reports that show in Africa food bought locally was over 30 percent cheaper and arrived 3 months sooner than food sent by the United States.

The article goes on to explain that cash can get to people where food cannot. There are still several places where it is not safe for aid workers to travel but we could provide cash vouchers and they can, again, buy locally. Maybe we should rethink the aid we are providing to other countries and concentrate on what works best. With shipping costs rising we are wasting money.

If you have a chance please read the article. There are several other examples and it makes a ton of sense.We could use the food here at home and send other countries money. Maybe that would help take care of some of out problems locally!

D D+ D+ DUMB!

2013-04-30T20:52:00.003-07:00

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/

The topic of my choice for this blog post is on our recent country’s report card. We received a D+. This is a constant problem in our country that we have not focused on. The report card is broken up into in to 17 categories. Our highest grade earned was a B+ which was in solid waste. Even thought Amercia pride its self on being the number country, we live worse than other countries. It doesn’t make any sense as to why we have horrible roads, water filtration, and a D average GPA. It is embarrassing that we live such a poor quality country and we boast about being the best. After receiving this news I have decided that I am going to pack up and move elsewhere. This is unacceptable by my standards. America is no longer the “gem” that many have perceived it to be. There is a strong decline lingering and I don’t want to be a part of it. The majority of our infrastructure is at a “D” according to the grading book a D is considered not only poor but also at risk.

I blame our poor infrastructure on our constant watch and involvement in foreign countries. I believe that this issue should be brought to attention in our next elections. The category that I felt strongly about is our parks and recreational facilities. I believe that our negligence towards our countries need have helped make social problems strife. The area worth focusing that I believe that could help improve our social problems is our public transit. In other countries it is the norm to ride trains and busses, they are more prevalent and help those who aren’t fortunate enough to have a car get to their job. I believe this is the biggest obstacle for a person trying to set their foot back in society.

Final Blog

2013-04-30T18:30:00.002-07:00

The Living Museum project was impactful for many and even me. Growing up with a homosexual uncle, I understood how a person felt when they were made fun of for just being themselves. During the process of getting the project together, I know that I talked to my uncle and his partner about their story. I was curious on how their families felt and how their friends reacted. Surprisingly both had positive stories to give me. Even though their stories were positive I know that going out in the public, with people that did not know them was a lot harder.

When I was looking through statistics I know that I came across many numbers that made sense. For example I did not think that in other countries, homosexuals were more rejected than accepted. I also found out how cruel people could be, especially people that many of us look up to. Professional athletes for example, do not always accept their teammates for who they are.

Knowing that we actually had to act out the scenes that we have created, we knew that it had to be on point because even the smallest smirk would be a sign of disrespecting the homosexuals that were present at our station. Our scenes were over dramatic but we explained that many of the scenes actually happen in real life stories that we have heard. I liked how our volunteers that came to answer any question that people had about homosexuals, told us that the scenes were powerful to them.

Racism

2013-04-26T14:32:00.001-07:00

http://www.isreview.org/issues/32/racism.shtml

Why is so hard for people today to not discriminate according to a persons race? Racism is the hatred towards another race or creed solely based on personal views. There have been many examples in history of nations leaders who were racist and where did it get them? You would think by now in the year of 2013 this would be an isolated problem.

Adolph Hitler is one of the most infamous racists in world history. His idea of producing a master race superior to all others was simply a personal viewpoint in which he got others to listen. Hitlers system was to one by one eradicate all other races bute at the same time take a hands on approach in selecting which german citizens could mate with each other. His doctors did evil experiments on the jews all with the approach on how to learn to manufacture a better and superior german.

Another example of a racist operation is the klu klux klan with is predominately in the south of the united states. These hate groups run people by putting fear into any other race other than white. They use scare tactics and violence to get them to succomb to their order.

One thing all these groups have in common is that they are not born with the hate in them; it is something that is taught. Generation after generation these simplistic ideals are passed down to their children usually by non educated morans. Of course, as a kid you have no choice but to go along with it or face punishment and violence yourself.

The idea of breaking the chain is not an idea in the clouds but is a realistic goal that can be attained by kindness and love for all races. We are all on this earth for only a short time so why not try to change the world. Remember the next time you see hatred, why not just go over and tell them its ok and that you are not mad at them for feeling this way but that there is a better and far more better way to work together. We are all Gods children after all.

Internet Access

2013-04-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

We live in an age in which we use the Internet every day. We use it to check the weather in the morning, to turn in our homework and to connect with family members and friends all over the world. It is clear that we college students really on Internet access, and we all know we go through a bad day when we have no Internet, or even a week signal. Kosta Grammatis is a former Avionics system engineer who is now bringing Internet access to rural cities, and villages that have never had Internet in their entire lives.
Kosta Grammatis wants us to know that there are 5 billions people in the world without any Internet access, and he has now put it to himself, to bring Internet access to all these people. In 2009 Kosta Grammatis launched a program in which he was succsfully able to connect Internet in a Peruvian village that had never had Internet. This year Kosta Grammatis is launching a new project in which he plans to expand Internet access in developing countries, while at the same time providing low cost Internet access in already developed countries.
This past April 4^th Kosta Grammatis promoted no Internet day, in which he hoped to raise awareness on not having any Internet, and how these 5 billion people go through the same thing everyday. I believe that what Kosta has being doing for the past years is amazing projects in which he can now help billions of people have the same accessibility to internet as us.
http://www.good.is/posts/good-100-meet-kosta-grammatis-bringing-the-internet-to-the-ends-of-the-earth/

Backward moving forward

2013-04-18T22:17:00.002-07:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/montana-senate-bill-107_n_3113738.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Even backward states are taking forward strides in the progressive gay rights movement. As this article states, however, only on paper is such a motion notable. In no way does removing a law that "criminalized" gay sex and equated it with "bestiality" really benefit the gay community aside from striking saving Montana some face.

The gay community still has major obstacles to overcome. This is easily apparent in our very own campus newspaper, wherein a student wrote an article honeyed with idealistic language and soured with hateful malice toward the gay community. The author stated, "As a Catholic and Marianist institution, it is tremendously surprising that St. Mary's is home to such an overwhelming number of students who avidly support gay marriage. Even more astounding, however, is the number of students both Christian and non-Christian, who have passively remained silent in this debate of ethics, morality and logic."

She too equates homosexuality with immorality, saying, "Christians should not advocate the practice of homosexual relations any more than any the act of lying, stealing, or murder." In this, it is clear that the elimination of this law does not mean the rights of the gay community are secured. Fortunately, our campus hosts more progressive thinkers, as another writer for The Rattler wrote, "the gay rights movement is about the rights of an individual, a facet of freedom Americans should strive for and pride themselves on. We are working against our own ideals if we deny homosexuals their rights."

Thus, although the world is generally progressing, those who speak for the underprivileged must not let up. For every step back, we must take one plus forward.

More Children in Greece are Going Hungry

2013-04-18T22:14:00.004-07:00

This article makes notice of the economic crisis in Greece. The Greek economy is greatly falling and their is currently a 27% unemployment rate!!! People are getting laid off and no new jobs are being created. It is always sad to hear about children going to school hungry and even more-so when the children are asking their classmates for their leftovers at lunch. In Greece children must take money everyday to buy what they want for lunch because the government does not pay their lunch for them like we do here. Is the crisis in Greece something we should be concerned about? YES!!! This could be us in a decade. Our economy is not exactly getting better. We need to help others that way if we are ever in a crisis such as theirs they will not have to think twice about helping us out. We could easily donate to an organization in Greece that could help solve this issue.161 I know volunteering for this cause would be a difficult task to ask of people but the least we could do is support by giving what we can. It would even be a great idea if fundraisers were held to earn money for the families in Greece that are unemployed or economically disadvantaged. Most of us would agree that our economy is bad but just imagine an economy where 27% of the population is unemployed. It is usually the little things that we do which can make a major impact in the lives of others.

The Progression Against HIV/AIDs

2013-04-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

For some of you that may not know, HIV/AIDs has taken a strong positive turn in regard to cure and prevention these past months. There have even been cases in which the immune system attacking disease has been cured in some individuals. In the article, “Fighting HIV the MTV Way,” by Georgia Arnold, these accomplishments are applauded. Arnold is quick to remind, however, that the fight is not over. Even though HIV/AIDs has been greatly reduced globally, the number of cases are still extremely high with the younger individuals of the population. This can be traced primarily to a lack of proper sexual education. The approach Arnold suggests to take, which she calls, “the MTV Way,” paints a vivid picture of a combined effort in the media, medical world, and education system in order to give proper insight on the disease. Arnold fears that the great advancements in medicine which have reduced HIV cases are causing people to let their guard down in the effort to stop this deadly condition. In fact, she believes this is the time to strike the disease while it’s down. With a boom in spread awareness, she believes that this disease can eventually be eradicated from the planet. I enjoyed this article because its sole purpose is to keep awareness where awareness is needed. Just because a problem is reduced or has been made easier to handle, does not mean that it is no longer a problem. We as a community should always strive to make the efforts to not only decrease, but eliminate the issues that affect us so greatly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgia-arnold/mtv-staying-alive-foundation_b_3103232.html?utm_hp_ref=impact

Residents Complain about Catholic Worker House

2013-04-18T21:28:00.004-07:00

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/news_columnists/gilbert_garcia/article/Catholic-Worker-House-targeted-by-city-neighbors-4440130.php

The Catholic Worker House, a charitable group who provides meals, clothing, and hygiene products to the homeless are being viewed as a major problem by the community’s residents. There have been four complaints about this service because CWH does not have a certificate to serve food from an unlicensed location.

Apparently, the residents say that the group reheats food donated by restaurants and hands them out to the homeless. According to the law, you cannot warm up food if you do not have a license. The residents claim that they are not worried about the quality of the food but about the possibility of the food getting people sick

Personally, I find this conflicting. I could not believe neighbors were filing complaints against CWH for reheating food in croc pots. I think that this group is doing whatever they can to help the homeless and as long as they are not feeding them rotten food I do not see a problem. I understand that complainers do not want anyone to get sick, but at the same time who else is going to feed the homeless? The article said that city officials tried to direct the homeless to Haven for Hope but this dramatically increased CWH’s intake of clients. Hopefully this gets settled and the homeless get fed.

Church is Helping the Homeless

2013-04-18T15:31:00.001-07:00

http://www.baptisttimes.co.uk/index.php/national-news/758-church-night-shelters-an-update-

Homeless people are those who don’t have adequate housing. Millions of people in our country are suffering from this issue. This is not something new. It is a social problem that most of the population is aware about. It’s time that we take action in order to solve this issue.

Imagine it’s December around the holidays. You are spending quality time with your family inside a warm and toasty home. Outside of the window, you can see snow slowly beginning to fall. Your mom brings out her famous hot chocolate, while relaxing on the couch. Now you have to think that everyone isn’t as lucky as you. What about those people who live out in the streets? How are they protecting themselves from the freezing weather?

I strongly believe that this country has many people who are narcissistic. All they care about is themselves. We need to drastically make a change. This is why I am very proud and content with what churches are doing. Churches are beginning to open their doors during the winter for the people who live out in the streets. Being out in freezing temperatures is very dangerous. There are very high chances that homeless people can suffer from hyperthermia. Not only are they providing a place where to stay for the night, but also a hot meal. For some of those people, that’s the only meal they will have for the entire day. The Church should continue their commitment to them. I’m pretty certain that they appreciate it.

Creating climate justice

2013-04-18T08:44:00.002-07:00

“The Dublin conference on hunger, nutrition and climate justice, currently underway, aims to inspire innovative thinking and solutions, by bringing together global development leaders with people at the receiving end of the effects of climate change and food and nutrition insecurity”- IDS

When do we really worry about our environment? Do we contribute enough to have a better environment? When we think about the environment we think about pollution, the 3 R’s Reuse, reduce and recycle, and all those protests and campaigns that have happened in order to have a better world, to protect Earth and to have a healthier environment. But do we really care? This article inspired me to think more about what I do to contribute to the environment. Yes, we try to engage in activities that help our community such as homelessness, hunger, poverty, and many others; but what about the environment, what about OUR environment?

Climate changes affect us and we tend to ignore the fact that we depend on Earth and its resources. The problem here is that most of us have no idea on how climate changes and the harms to our environment affect us. Let’s think about it for a second. If we face severe climate changes and damage to the environment, how are we going to combat hunger if agriculture will be affected by these climate changes and therefore there will be no way of producing goods such as fruits and vegetables? Climate changes issue are put aside and separate from other issues that then lead us to ignore this issue completely. If we include climate changes into our other many issues then we can start by solving that one, or at least try to solve it because if we do not have a safe, clean and healthy environment then climate changes will often occur leading to disasters, leading to people with no homes, no resources, and leaving us with nothing.

It is important that we address this issue soon and efficiently and we as a society should be more caring towards our environment. We need to better understand the ways we can help save our environment. The lack of support and knowledge about this issue is what will affect us in the long run. Getting informed and involved might be the key to a better environment, to a better Earth. The Dublin conference is really trying to show that putting this issue separate from other issues is not helping. It is rather harming us more and in the long run the damage can be irreparable.

Here is the link:

http://www.ids.ac.uk/news/creating-climate-justice-three-challenges

SMC 2302 Civic Engagement and Social Action Sp 2013

Service Showcase

Final Blog/Museum Reflection

Project Reflection

Project Reflection

High school dropouts, is the issue truly an epidemic?

Someone drops out, you lose out

Homosexual Showcase

Discrimination against Homosexuals

High School dropout SHOCK!

Domestic Violence Living Museum Reflection

Kid with gun shoot his sister

FDA approves morning-after pill without prescription for girls 15 and older

Alaskan Man Fights Off Bear Walks Away with Minor Injures

Hungry countries need money NOT food

D D+ D+ DUMB!

Final Blog

Racism

Internet Access

Backward moving forward

More Children in Greece are Going Hungry

The Progression Against HIV/AIDs

More than just posting

Residents Complain about Catholic Worker House

Church is Helping the Homeless

Creating climate justice